Contact Lens-Based Display Technology for Low Vision



 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is estimated that there are at least three million Americans with visual impairment. Technology continues to increase the range of options available for the visually impaired including head mounted devices and wearable technology. Innovega has designed a high-resolution spectacle-mounted display based on advanced contact lenses: the iOptik. These contact lenses enable viewing micro-displays placed near to the eye without interfering with the wearer's normal vision. This new technology enables the development of head mounted displays, both see-through and occluded, which are contained in standard eyewear yet offer electronic imagery that can provide an extremely large field of view affording virtual and augmented reality. In this project, Innovega will construct a prototype iOpti for low vision patients: these will incorporate high resolution, wide field displays mounted in spectacles, interfaced to a low weight camera mounted above the bridge. Innovega will evaluate the prototype iOptik in visually impaired individuals for reading, on a driving simulator, and usin smart-phones.